This
was a Roadburn 2015 sampler that the band was giving out to selected media and
fans at the festival this year. It starts off with a really long track over
25mins which is called On riff to bake the Horses which is a medley of the
tracks from their debut CD called How I learned to relax and love the Bong!
Marathon des Sables is a new song and has some really intense playing from all
the band. I like the cool effect on the guitar as it really builds up in
intensity, like a scream and then they break out into a more jazzy realm like
the track started off and then totally out there!. This is some of the bands
best quality recordings and they really are on fire with some great playing by
all the players and you can really hear how they have really come together
after 7 years. A.B.Ong is a track from 2012. The Bong remains the Same is
another new one and borrows a slight bit from the classic Led Zeppelin track.
They finish off with Inhale on Main Street, another track from 2012. A very
cool sampler with new material and a reworking of old stuff. I really like this
instrumental Italian band.
This is a site where I post reviews of CDs, DVDs, LPs, and concerts. I have been writing music reviews on and off since 1984. I ran a heavy metal fanzine from 1984-1988 called Metal Madness and have been a staff writer for Aural Innovations for many years. I have also contributed to Chrohinga Well (RIP), Bad Acid (RIP), Lowcut (RIP), Roadburn and a number of other zines as well. I recently moved to Portugal so please request the new address and do not send any music to Denmark anymore. Tak..
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Magic Jove- Sonic Understanding 10” (Spacewalk Records SWR001)
Magic
Jove is a new Swedish trio from Malmö. The drummer Tim, also plays in the band
Agusa. This is the band’s debut 10” record and features 4 songs. It is pressed
in only 300 copies on black and blue vinyl.
Black Clouds in Western Skies starts things off. Filiph has a really
cool bluesy voice for being such a young guy. He also plays the bass guitar.
The band reminds me of early 70s Robin Trower without the Hendrix guitar sound.
Don’t drag me Down is next and it has a nice groove. Track you Down starts with
a nice guitar and passionate vocal leaning on Bruno’s bass lines. The titles
track ends this excellent 10” that sounds straight out of 1974! Another bluesy
one and someone breaks out the harmonica for about 15 seconds here and there.
Nice guitar solo work also. Hope these guys develop into a band that will jam
live and explore their songs structures even further. I really look forward to
hear the full length record by this great new band.
Kap Kap- Flux of Solace (Rapu Records RAPU-023)
This
is a pretty new Finnish band from Helsinki. This is their 2nd
release of psychedelic rock. On your Porch starts this record off with a copy
of the Hawkwind- Master of the Universe riff taken in a slightly new stoned hypnotic
direction with some different psychedelic layers and keyboards. The guitar riff
is basically the same though. C.S. changes things totally and at the beginning
reminds me of Syd Barrett and Octopus Syng a bit. It is also a hypnotic track
(especially the end). Midnight is a beautiful floating track with a calm vocal
but a steady drive. Lady Appear starts off with a more mysterious beginning but
soon a more happy vibe pervades the track and there is a nice guitar solo that
guides the track to the next section. Flip the record over for the track Old
Goat. This track is slow and dominated by the keyboards but then gets quite
psychedelic as it builds up. Cool song. Don’t you know is next and features
some violin by Petra is a slower ballad like track with mostly just a kick drum
and guitar. Eternal Clouds has some female vocals as well and is a more pop
psych track with a funny happy vibe. Shaman of the Sun is has a very repetitive
drum and bass line over which the other instruments create the magic. The vocal
is quite special. The track Three finishes off this album. Pretty cool record
for people who like melodic rock with a slight psychedelic edge at times. Fans
of Fruits der mer Label bands would probably dig this band. Enjoy.
Deep Space Destructors- Spring Break from Space 2015 (Self Released)
Deep
Space Destructors are a really cool psychedelic space rock band from Oulu
Finland. They just did a small tour this spring of Finland, Estonia and Lativa?
And released this tape in only 30 numbered copies to go along with the tour. It
features one long track on each side. Journey to the Space Mountain starts off
heavy and spaced out and then it has some really cool dynamics and reminds me
of old First band from Outer Space stuff.
This is really cool heavy psychedelic space rock with some synths
swirling around here and there as the rest of the band blast full force onto
the Space Mountain! Flip the tape over for Where space ends time Begins. This
one starts off like a jam as the band slowly comes together for the flight.
They are really teasing as you wait for them to get more heavy but they just
stay out in space until but somehow it just feels more and more intense and
then it ends.. Cool stuff from Finland!
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Roadburn Festival, Tilburg, Holland 2015
7:30 I am sitting at the gate
waiting to fly to Amsterdam and then catch the train to Tilburg. I did not
sleep well last night so I am really tired. It will make today quite tough..
This year I am staying at a B&B quite close to the venue with my friend
Anders and all my Danish friends are camping out.
9:30 All went smooth. There were
about 10 or more on this flight going to Roadburn, some from Sweden, Norway,
Finland as well as Danes…
10:10 We got a train pretty quickly today to Breda
and then to Tilburg. A fast train for 20€. I am sitting with some Swedish guys,
one from Umeå, who has a band that used to be called Magic Lanterns but are now
called UFO over Lapland. His friend Anders is from Malmo. All very cool people.
Amazing weather today.. Sunny and warm..
11:09 We are now on the train to Tilburg
and will arrive at 11:23.. Quick trip, which is nice as I might get a chance to
rest.
12:00 At the B&B and got my
wristband and an all access pass this year. Thanks Walter.. I promise to only
put it to good use. This will be my 10th year in a row writing about
Roadburn! Wow…. 10 years of my life…
13:30 I was starving so I had to
go get some food before Anders had arrived. Schnitzel, fries and salad.. A lot
of food… and coke.. See and talk to quite a few people I know or have met from
Sweden, Holland, Finland, etc… JJ from the Obelisk…. So great to be back at Roadburn. It is like
meeting your extended family that you see only once a year. So many cool and
interesting people. All here, dedicated to the music…
15:15 I saw the beginning of the Solstafir show playing along to an
Icelandic movie. That was really cool and I for sure have to look up and see this film. I really wanted to see the Tower so
I had to leave. I quite liked their debut album and was looking forward to see
them. They started off slowly with the first two songs being not that good and
catching me but then the third song, Lucy was totally amazing. Really cool
guitar playing. The singer was really into his own zone, a bit like Joe Cocker
at times and then other times just out there.. but totally focused and into his
art. The bass player was a colourful character and several people questioned
whether it was a man or woman?? Cool bass lines… They next played a new song
called Zeitung. Also cool.. I think this is the one I filmed. The Tower ended
their set and was a long track with a lot of guitar and singing parts. Great
set.
Set List: Adrenalawine, Exile,
Lucy, Zeitung, Moonstoned, Wounds, The Tower.
Set List: Pink Flamingos, The
Vampire Strikes Back, Creep Purple, Ego Trip, Nothing Hill.
18:00 Finally, met up with Nils,
Sven, Magnus and Ausie at a local bar. They had not seen any music yet and were
taking it really slow. I also have been taking it a bit slow but Spidergawd
were up next and I needed to see them. I think they will be very good live…
Spidergawd |
Set List: ?, ?, ?, Fixin to Die, Crossroads, Empty Rooms, Made from Sin, Is all she Says, Into Tomorrow, Tourniquet, Blauer Jubel, Sanctuary
Russian Circles |
Moaning Cities |
Set List: Bread, Panic, New Tim, Please, Easter, Slap New Vel, 2voix, Vandel, ?
22:15 I had time to catch the last
three songs of Wovenhand, as I had
heard so much about this dark Americana guy and it was about time I heard it
for myself. He usually plays by himself or as a duo from what I understand. This
was a 4 piece band with two guitarists. I don’t know how to explain it. The
songs were, just songs, with some groove but it was not really heavy or bluesy
or…… I don’t know. The room was full but I just did not connect with it at all.
Martin from Litmus said he felt the same way..
People really seem to love it though.
23:30 Kandodo with Robert Hampson was very cool and super intense. You
could choose this or Eyehategod on
the main stage. Helms Alee was also playing at this time. Very repetitive and a
lot of spacey E-bow guitar from the Heads guitar player. Robert played more of
the heavy stuff. A lot of the bass and
drum lines were very straightforward and repeated over and over. It created a
cool wall of sound for the guitar parts to just space over and in and out. It
was very intense being right up front. Phew…. I had to go outside and rest
after that mindblower.
Set List: Kandy Rock Mountain,
Dawn Harmonix, Lord Hyena, Swim>Sun, 3-l ‘e’
I had wanted to catch a bit of Lazer/Wulf before Mugstar, who were
also overlapping with Bongripper
playing their record Miserable. Anyway,
I have known the Mugstar guys via the internet and finally met them in Portugal
last summer and they are lovely cool people. I bought a couple of their records
that I did not have. They gave me a shirt! Anyway, Mugstar were probably the highlight of the day with a 65 min set of
almost entirely high paced, intense psychedelic rock with dual guitars and a
bit of synth here and there and just super intense drumming. Wow… That guy was
amazingly powerful and drove the band to the stratosphere! End of the night for me and straight back to
the B&B…
Set list: Sunburnt, Unearth,
Serra, La Valléé, Black Fountain, Flemish Weave, Fuel to Burn, Axis, Ourboros,
Bethany
Day 2
Was up about 10 and feeling pretty
good. Had an excellent breakfast. The weather looks awesome outside. Anders is
off to Utrecht for the worlds largest record fair and will be back later. Today
I plan to start with these two Enslaved side projects: Einar Selvik Workshop
and Ivar Bjørenson’s Bardspec.
13:30 Hanging out with Gustav and
Mikael at a local café and chatting about music. Really cool guys. I will check
out Einar first off..
15:45 The Einar Selvik Workshop blew my mind. What an amazing human being. He
started off for 15mins and spoke passionately about his connection to Nordic
history and nature and now music. He was very passionate and into his art and
try to convey the path of looking closely at nature and your surrounding and
becoming one with the earth again. He played 3 or 4 songs on these cool ancient
instruments and that was just amazing.. He reminds me of my friend Jesper from
Gas Giant… These guys share the same spirit. I spoke to him afterwards and told
him how much his speech and music had touched me. I was really taken. Wow..
Ivar |
I quickly got some ribs and beer
and then over to squeeze into see Pekko
Käppi and K:H:H:L in the Bat Cave. My friend Arto had suggested this. I
loved it. Very raw, emotional simple passionate freak flag blues stories..
Pekko is so into what he is doing and playing this far out lyre like instrument
with wah and some effects and the way he sings like he is possessed by a
Haitian voodoo priest.. far out…
Pekko Käppi |
Set List: Hogweed, Rubberlegged, A Norwegian Requiem, Voodoo, Sjö &Land, Medic, Flapping Lips at Ankle Height
Brimstone |
Straight
away I was up on the balcony for Focus.
I had seen this classic prog band from Holland about 5-6 years ago as Sweden
Rock and thought they were excellent. Today was no exception. High quality
mostly instrumental jazz-prog rock that takes you right back to the early 70s.
The band plays the same classic songs every show plus a few new songs. All the
players are really excellent. Amazing guitar player.. The room was so hot I was
going to pass out so I had to go get some water and then I came back. Great
concert.
Focus |
Wardruna was on the main stage next and
I had no idea what to expect and it was awesome. The guy next to me had driven
10 hrs just to see this concert.. This
was a 10 piece band with many singers and three drummers and Einar as their
spiritual leader for this one hour earth ritual dedicated the spirit of the
earth. It reminded me of native American Indian singing rituals and a bit of Gregorian
chants and quite simple rhythms and some cool instruments. Amazing stuff… I
have to search out their CD. It was a powerful performance.
The Heads |
Agusa |
Skuggsjå |
Day 3
Coma Wall |
Death Penalty, the guitar player from Cathedral’s new heavy metal band. They are fronted by a powerful (German?) female singer. She reminded me of Doro from Warlock on the faster songs. This was straight up 80s metal. The guitar parts and riffs were really good. It was nothing new at all but hard rocking metal. I think I saw 4 songs..
Miava was the first band I have been
able to see a bit of in Cul de Sac as it is alwasys so packed it is impossible
to get into. This is the worst venue for the crowds. This was an instrumental 4
piece bands playing really groovy dynamic stoner rock. The guitar player on the
left looked a lot like the guy from Monkey 3. Musically they had some
similarities at times but this band rocked harder. Cool stuff..
Miava |
After
Domo I tried to see a bit of Messenger
but it was really laid back neo-prog folk but I could not really see them and
it sounded a bit boring.. The Heads were
totally awesome and Walter did the cool visuals with a library of stuff
borrowed from Jacob of Causa Sui, who did some awesome visuals for bands here
years ago. Powerful shorter songs with only one really long piece. The sound
was not right on the big stage though. The drums and bass were just too loud
and the guitars were supposed to be really in your face and sometimes you could
hardly hear the lead guitar player. Pity.. it would have made the experience
more intense like it was upfront in the church. Phew.. Killer…
Zotlan had a lot of analog keyboards and no laptops but was bass,
drums and synths. They sounded like Goblin without the guitars. They had some
cool movies. I really liked it but I did still miss the guitars. Undersmile was the same as Coma Wall
but electric and I did not like this at all. It was just hard to describe but
it drove me away.
Mugstar |
Hung out with my Danish friends for Zombi and this was pretty cool for the 20mins or so that I saw but the synths were mostly just preset sounds and not that much real playing but he had to play the bass as well. Still some pretty cool music.
Zombi |
I did not seem much before going to the green room to join the Finnish people to hear the melodic progressive rock band Sammal. This was really a great concert. I loved it and is was the most happy music I heard at the entire festival and the singer was amazing. Fantastic voice and although they don’t play really long prog songs, they do them all really well and have a great guitar player. Excellent concert. Wish they had played a bit longer though. Great come down after an intense day…. Amazing day of music. One more to go…
White Hills are the first band on
today. I will meet them before and after the show as I will play with them in
two days. Feel pretty fresh today for the 4th day. Had lunch with
Arto and Anders and then headed over to the 013 to see if the White Hills
people were around. We hung out and together for 30mins before their set and I
met the new drummer, Rodney, from the LA band Farflung.
16 White Hills played a really new set for them. Gone was the
electrified sonic psychedelic wall of guitar sound and in fact two of the new
songs had almost no guitar at all. A bit like the NY band Suicide, perhaps. All
but one of the first like 6 songs was from the new record. People were happy to
hear Condition of Nothing a bit of blazing guitar. The visual movie with all
these doors and windows I found a bit creepy and disturbing. Ego said that was
good. They were inspired by a Robert Wilson play they saw. Anyway, the next
part was a medley of older track including H1P1 without the long guitar part
(bummer!) and then the really cool space DBA and that was really great. I liked
that best. Eternity and Peace of Mind closed their 55 mins set. I liked it but
I have to admit it is really different and not what people expect from White
Hills. Some of my fried liked it and a lot did not, they totally missed the
great guitar solos and jams and that wall of sound, which is pretty much
totally gone now.
Set List: Intro, No Will, Lead the
Way, Condition of Nothing, Wanderlust, LSD or USB, We are what you are, H-P1,
Don’t be Afraid, Eternity,
A heavy metal band, Argus was next up but I was not at all in the mood for that. I talked with White Hills for a while and then caught some of Bongripper. These guys are just massive but again I could not handle this wall of doom with our guitar solos for more than 15mins. People were totally into it and that is cool…. Admiral Sir Cloudsley Shovell played a kick as set and this was perhaps the best I had seen them since the first time they played in the Bat Cave. They really had a great energy, humor and rocked! They did not play any new songs tonight, which was a bummer as they apparently played mostly new songs at their other show at the Cul de Sac two days ago.. I also hung out with them a bit backstage and they were really funny and cool people..
GOBLIN played along to the classic Dario Argento film, Suspiria in
the main hall and this you need to be there from the beginning and take in the
whole experience. I was not really up for that and I had seen the film many
times. The place was filled and the sound was great. My friend Nils said it was
awesome.
I caught the first 3-4 songs of Lo-Pan, who have the largest band
member of the entire festival. The singer Jeff is a huge guy but super cool. I
spoke to him before the show and wished him luck. He had a nice Simpsons shirt
on. They were really powerful stoner rock but the songs were nearly all the
same and only at the last song (which I came back to and heard) was there any
lead guitar really… Very powerful with a melodic and not at all screamed vocal.
People were into it for sure.
Set List: Eldorado, Re Gulus, Land
of Blind, NPD, New. Colussus, Vox, Eastern, Duke
Abrahma was a huge surprise. I only have their split single with Wo
Fat and these guys blew me away. I saw nearly the entire show and they were
great. Singer has a cool voice and I dig the variation in stoner, a bit doomy,
high intensity jammed out sections.. Very cool band. Saw all my dutch psych
fans there again… Awesome and what a surprise.
Set List: Fountains, Offspring, Headless, Heavy, Neptune, Omens 1 and 2.
Abrhama |
Set List: Fountains, Offspring, Headless, Heavy, Neptune, Omens 1 and 2.
Anathema was next on the main stage playing a retrospective show
with some of the old original members as well. I only saw the first two songs
and I did not like it at all. Some sort of pop music, ugh… Anyway, my friend Anders said it was a very
impressive show and they started with their new material and slowly worked
their way back to their oldest material where the old members joined and it got
more and more heavy and more metal. He was very impressed.
Terminal Cheesecake was a mindblowing show. I stood and watched
this show with Rodney, the new White Hills drummer. This is the singer from the
UK psych band, GNOD, their old singer. I thought this was a new band but Dave
from White Hills said it was an old band and that he actually helped push them
to get back together! Anyway, this was super intense high energy psychedelic
rock with crazy vocals, wild guitar, pounding drums, and bass lines.. just
totally over the top madness with a Ramones like singer who was out of
control.. Madness of the highest order .. Intense and far out.. Phew…
I ended the night with the Golden Grass which took me back to the
days of Humble Pie, Grand Funk Railroad, Captain Beyond…. Amazing New York
band. They played a great set for 50mins and people were totally into it… What a great Roadburn, once again. Still the best festival in the world!
Thursday, April 16, 2015
White Hills and Måneskjold- Loppen, Christiania April 13th, 2015
White
Hills were very late arriving, so we had no soundcheck. Sue and I arrived
around 17 and the guys from Måneskjold were setting up for soundcheck. Only
Lovers left Alive was screening in the small theatre in Christiania called
Byens Lys at 18 and the band was supposed to introduce the movie and answer
some questions but they were late. Sue and I had a nice dinner with Dave.
Chatting about live in New York, touring, music… I had spent a some hours with
Rodney, the new drummer at Roadburn so we did not talk as much this day. He is
from the band Farflung, where Dave’s brother plays guitar… White Hills and
Farflung did some touring together some years back, so they have known Rodney
for years. Cool guy.
After we ate, Sue, Dave, Ego, myself and a lady from the film festival walked us all over the theatre. The film was in the last 5mins or so, and since Sue and I had not seen it, we turned aside. After it was over, Dave and Ego answered some questions, mainly from the organizer and one from the audience. It was over in 10mins and then back to the venue.
There
were a lot of young people here tonight and none of my music friends that I
usually see shows with. I thought they were Måneskjold audience but Kasper said
he only knew 10 or so of these people. Måneskjold played a really good set but
way too short, only like 30mins. They sounded really good. They will soon
record an EP for release later this year. I have no idea what the set list was
but they played 5 songs, I think.
Since
we had no soundcheck and no gear set up in advance it was a bit of a rush but
it all went very smooth. This was the third time I would play with White Hills
but we decided I would only play on the end of the show, which was fine. They
played nearly the same set as Roadburn but they had more intensity today and
Dave did more guitar solos. The first part of the set is very heavy on the new
album, which is really different. Some of the tracks Dave only sings and does
not play guitar like the opener called No Will. There is a video for this on
youtube. IT is a bit like the Cramps or Suicide or something. Quite different
for them but still cool. Two heavy tracks, Condition of Nothing and Under Skin
was next. Wanderlust has a real political statement and some far out guitar. I
liked the rant that Dave does during the track LSD or USB! We are… was next and
then I joined the band.
Normally
on the tour they are playing a shortened version of Hp-1 and into Don’t be
Afraid but tonight we did the full 15mins spaced out version and a really cool
spacey version of DBA. That was a really fun and cool. Eternity is a short and
heavy track from the Heads on Fire record to end the set. The encore was a jam
song called False Revolution toward a Slick Mirror from the Timless tracks for
Aural Pleasure 12”. This was a great space out. I had an excellent time and
thanks again to the band for letting me play with you guys. Some of the nicest
people in rock music.. We multitrack recorded the show again. I think it was
about 80mins..
Set List: Intro, No Will, Lead the
Way, Condition of Nothing, Under Skin, Wanderlust, LSD or USB, We are what you
are, H-P1, Don’t be Afraid, Eternity, False Revolution toward a Slick Mirror
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Spiralism- Chakras (Inverse Records IVR167)
Spiralism
are a new Finnish band. These tracks were recorded between 2012 and 2014 and
mixed by Sami (Hidria Spacefolk). This CD came out sometime last year but I
just received. There are 7 symbols and 7 tracks representing the Chakras that
make up this album. Like Chakras, there are also a lot of different moods and
styles presented in these tracks but the four piece band (minus the guests-
Sami on Synths on tracks 3-6 and Jani- guitar (all tracks). Drowning High
starts with some deep bass and space layers that allow you to gently enter into
the realm before the heavy metal begins. I was not really expecting this but
the music is played with a lot of emotions, both dark, growling death and
powerful melodic parts.. Weighing of the
heart (Track 3) has some really nice spacey stuff going on and cool synth parts
and a nice guitar solo, which there are not that many of so far on the album. The
Fool is mostly instrumental and an amazingly beautiful but also mysterious
track. Dust Devils has a more evil tone to start but then around the middle of
the track it goes into a Hidria Spacefolk inspired eastern section. Gnosis has
a slow doomy start that slowly takes another form completely with a really cool
effected guitar sound. This is quite an epic (11mins) and moody piece and drops
the death growls, thankfully. The Passages of Ruit ends the Chakras album in a
heavy intense way.. Phew…
Alien Planetscapes- Third Sun Archive Releases
Alien Planetscapes- Live in Brooklyn 1987
Third Sun- Rooftop Follies
Alien Planetscapes- Official Bootleg #7
Alien
Planetscapes was a mostly improvised project from the later Doug Walker. It
started off as solo and duo synthesizers improvisations and developed into an
amazing space rock band. The band released 106 releases before their only
proper CD release, 107.. Sadly, no full discography exists and some of the
recordings appear to be lost forever but occasionally former member Richard
Orlando finds some gems and releases them as limited edition CD-Rs. Over the
last 4 months or so there have been three new ones. Official Bootleg #7
features tracks from as early as 1990 (WKCR radio promo) and the most recent
being a track called Pre-Flight from 2001. Not all this stuff is unreleased
though and 3 of the tracks are different versions of songs on the Life on Earth
CD (Loveshack radio (2 versions) and gravel. Tracks 4-6 were my favourite
material and some of it is really amazing stuff..
The
AP live at Bar None in Brooklyn March 13th, 1987 is one of the duo
concerts featuring Doug and Carl Howard, whom Doug made many recordings off. This
is extremely far out and really wild at times… It is split into three tracks
called Selma Freedom March 1965 Part 1, 2 and 3.
The
last archive release of the group is actually material that pre-dates Alien
Planetscapes and was from Doug’s first group called Third Sun. This features
Doug not on synths but on alto sax and flutes primarily. He is joined by Ron
McCalla on electric piano and Pablo Calogero also on alto sax and flute. All
three of the guys do some different kinds of percussion at times as well. The
CD is two long tracks that run 50mins..
Monday, April 6, 2015
Hooffoot- Hooffoot (Paura di Niente Records PDN001)
Hooffoot
is a progressive jazz rock band from Malmö, Sweden. The group is led by Par
Hallgren (Sgt Sunshine, Carpet Knights, ØSC, Deathening). The musicians that
make up the rest of the group also play in many local acts like Agusa, Carpet
Knights, Mantric Muse, ØSC). The album features two long instrumental tracks
highly inspired by Italian prog bands like PFM, Il ballet di bronzo.. Side A
starts off with Last flight of the Ratite (18mins) and starts off with a nice
long sax solo by Ida Hallgren and this leads into the next section where there
is some great interaction between the keyboards and guitar players, while the
bass line is leading the way. The middle section with these awesome swirling
keys and cool bass just blew me away! I could continue to describe each
movement in these complicated pieces but let’s just say that the band has amazing
dynamics and fans of Italian 70s prog and jazz will love this. Amazing record
and for sure one of my favorites this year… Fans of Diagonal will like these
guys also. Side 2 starts off pretty mellow and tranced out with some nice flute
and layers of melodies as the track grows. This one also features a bit more horns with
trumpet and sax and at least one theme that sounded really familiar. I should
mention this was recorded 100% analog…. Sounds amazing.. Pressed in only 500
copies on black vinyl in a nice gatefold sleeve.
Planes of Satori- S/T (Who can you Trust WHO-026)
Planes
of Satori are a San Francisco band. They released a split single prior to this.
Anyway, this is a really cool album with 7 tracks that are all sorted of melted
into each other and that totally channels the 1972 era CAN. The singer, sings
in the same style as Damo, while the band creates these cool grooves and just
spaces out.. Side A starts off with Eyes
and some space synth sounds before the uptempo drumming contrasts the more laid
back vocal and guitar that sort of jam away in the background. The space sounds
enter here and there. Very cool stuff.. If you must Know has an almost African guitar
style riff that takes the lead to start this track off. Gnostic Boogie ends the
side and reminds me a bit of the US band Weird War. Flip over the record for
Green Summer, which features a really nice guitar solo as the CAN like bass
lines roll on and the drummer just pushes the track. Great track. The ballad of
Queen Milo is more laid back and spacey and mostly instrumental. KTZ again
features the cool guitar playing of Raze and . The Snake and the Squirrel is a really short
intense guitar track to end the record. Cool
record..
THE SLAG BRICK PROJECT- ELEPHANT 7” (Slag Brick Project SBP01)
The
Slag Brick Project is a new Finnish band playing old school traditional
ska-reggae and boy do they hit the sound right! The band features: Rasmus Pailos: Clarinet/ Melodica/xylophone/Dub
fx., Arttu
Launis:Tenor Saxophone/Flute, Joseph Miettinen: Trombone, Olli Kari:Jalava-marimba/Vibraphone/Gongs/Perx,
Niila
Rantala:Guitar-Steelpan, Sami Virkkala:Bass, Sami
Hagelberg:Drums, and Surya
Daniel:Percussion. Side A is the track Elephant (See youtube link below
to hear the track). It is a 3 min long ska track with marimba, steel pan drums
and lots of other percussion and groove. Flip the 7” over for the track called
Riverbed, which is really going back to the sound of yesterday with a totally
stoned reggae groove but with steel drum, melodica and flute. Awesome track.. I
am not sure how you get a hold of this 7” but contact the band via Facebook.
Sweet Times Vol 3 (Who can you Trust WHO-027)
The
third volume of this 7” series is back with four new bands (new to me). Sonic
Love Affair starts things off with Sad Eyed Susan. Snotty rock and roll ala
Lecherous Gaze… that is what his reminds me of.. Pastor is next with a track called The
Howling Woods. This track is a bit slower and bluesy but also very raw rock and
roll. The singer has a quite special voice. The end the track takes a strange
twist and sounds a lot like 70s Pentagram. Cool. Flip the single over for the
band Wild Honey and a track called This Fire. It starts off slow and doomy then
the headbanging can begin as the intense female singer enters the musical
frame. Death Alley play at track called Hypermotion and this is a high paced
rock and roll number which is quite frantic. The singer can hardly keep up with
the band at times. Another very fun 7” in this cool series. I really like the
artwork but could do with more info about the bands… no web sites, info about
the tracks..
CARLTON MELTON/MIND MOUNTAIN SPLIT 7” (God Unknown Records)
God
Unknown label run by the Mugstar guys has released 4 singles so far and this is
the best one yet! Carlton Melton starts things off with a track called
Harbringer. It was recorded at the Dome and mixed by Rich but I have no idea
what year. Sounds like it could be some of the more recent material. Heavy,
droney guitar and synth with some raw drumming but mixed higher than on a lot
of their records. Rich plays all the bass and a very spaced out guitar solo.
Stoned.. Flip the record over and you
have the track, Astraeus by Mind Mountain from the UK. This is a new band for
me but I really loved this track. They are a trio (Joe, Marc and Dave). Joe
plays the killer guitar and keys (organ sound), Marc the bass and Dave the
drums. Great intensity in the music and a nice spacey middle section.
Banquet- Banquet (Who can you Trust WHO-028)
Banquet
is a new San Francisco band that plays kick ass rock and roll and features
members of Buffalo Tooth and Poor Sons. Run to You starts things off. The singer reminds me of someone but I can’t
place him… Djghenis Khan?? Anyway, this is a kick ass rock and roll track with
some nice guitar and a great riff that really gets you sucked into it. Awesome
track. Mother Road is a bit heavier and slower to start but then really rocks
out in the middle and then returns to the slow and heavier stoney blues. I
really look forward to hear a full record by this band. Loved this 7”…
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